Restarting the Spartan Project
by Allrounder
Summary: Forerunners. Their history is still a mystery. They were killed by Halo. Their connections to the Human realm is hidden. But before the Humans could even start to unfold the mystery, another force is coming. This time, they are ready. 2 years ago, they restarted the famed project. And they caught him. (Aftermath of the Halo series)
1. I Am Peter

AN: I am way too ambitious. Story 6.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo.**

My name is Peter.

I live on Earth.

I live alone.

My parents were killed.

I am 13 years old.

People see me as a geek who can run and throw.

They resent me for that.

I am gifted.

No one has helped me do anything since I was born.

I am specialized.

I understood the entire history of the Covenant-Human war, The Human-Covenant-Flood war, and even one war that only I had seen with my own eyes.

The Forerunner-Flood war.

They saw me as special.

They froze me.

They isolated me, left me to drift in space.

They were destroyed.

I survived.

I was unfrozen.

I saw their faces.

I mistook them as my own.

I understood my mistake.

I let myself assimilate into their culture.

I saw the first comings.

They kidnapped my best friends.

I evaded and wiped them.

I lost my abilities.

I hid from them.

I saw my friends grow, while I stunted.

But now;

I have begun to grow.

My friends,

Being killed in their adult forms,

Both civilian and Spartan,

Have restarted the project.

They have located me.

Only one of my true, forgotten, friends are left.

His name is John.


	2. John's Aftermath

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo.**

"Where's that kid?!" First Lieutenant Phane panted, resting his hands on his knees as the rest of the Omega party ran around in their camo, silencing their side arms. The shimmering clump that was his men were all over the place, and a single figure then slowly materialized in front of him.

Saluting Phane, Officer Thames stepped back. "Sir! We have checked every corner, and the soldiers are in place! We cannot find him, sir!" Phane slapped his thigh. "We had better find him soon. But it just doesn't feel right. Why would the Master Chief go to all the trouble to order a squadron to kidnap one bratty kid? It isn't even legal to kidnap kids anymore. But then again, he is an orphan. Never mind that now. Now that we cornered him to the roofs, assemble any remaining scatter troops and start scaling the buildings." Phane ordered, holstering his M6G Magnum while Thames saluted and stepped back, whispering rapidly into his microphone.

**-Paragraph Break-**

"Ha! I feel like that 343GS. Those guys can never catch me with that kind of tactic." Peter thought. He was directly under the soil, buried under mounds of mud and people. Even with all of the motion sensors and heat sensors in the world, it isn't possible to find him. But then, he heard something familiar. "Why…Master Chief…order…squadron…kidnap…one…kid?"

Master Chief? At first, Peter was confused by that word. He thought back to all those leaked (and hacked by him) videos of the Spartan's battle. He remembered a supposed dead hero, but found alive and had defeated the Prometheans and had found the Forerunners. They had also said that Master Chief was a descendant of them.

He thought back to the final announcement. _**"John-117 has returned from the dead! He has defeated the awaiting Prometheans and have befriended another alien species! They are called the Forerunners..." **_ He ignored the rest, and focused on the first words.

"_John. He's alive. And to think that I met him on Eridanus 32 years ago. Time really flies by. I wonder if he stuck to his word with Parisa… Ha." _

**-Paragraph Break-**

Phane and Thames were just about to give up until Peter suddenly appeared under a Private's feet. The Private was knocked right off the Terra. All guns and eyes were on him. Peter tried to restrain from decapitating all of them, and just raised his hands in defense, and said, "Don't worry. I'm not hostile like I was before. I'm sorry for that, Private. I'll come quietly. Just put those guns down before all of you get your heads shot off. And I don't mean by each other." The squad lowered their weapons, and led Peter to an awaiting Pelican.

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**New Sword Base, Reach Defensive Settlement, Apartment Dormitory**_

John was just waking up when he heard the knock. He reflexively waved at the air against is thigh to look for a weapon of some sort, before remembering that he wasn't fighting aliens anymore. He answered the door, and there stood three UNSC officers, standing in salute in front of the decorated Spartan officer.

The three were indeed spooked at the never-before-seen-by-the-new-privates Spartan in half-uniform, the hair on his head growing out to near-ordinary human length of hair. But they quickly snapped out of it and saluted him, saying, "Master Chief Sir! The Omega search party has returned with the target as per requested! He is in Cell 8, ready to be augumentated! We just need your permission to begin! Please follow us, sir!"

John rubbed the port of his neural implants at the back of his neck, calibrating the centre of gravity. Picking up his helmet from the bunk, he walked out of the dorm, following the three to the main building. They eventually entered the underground prison, where the prison cells were located. They marched across the number of cells, eventually reaching to a lead-lined door. The number beside the keypad was a clean, gold number 8.

Private Rope C. Tetherson, or that was what his dog-tag said, keyed in a number code, and the door slowly slid open, revealing a layer of plasma. Rope pressed his thumb onto the side of the field, obviously Covenant-made, the plasma field set down, revealing a small figure, lying on the bed, humming a silent tune to himself.

Upon the opening of the plasma gate, Peter shot up from the bed, and looked at the huge bulk of a Spartan, and instantly came up with a hundred different ways to destroy this man, before the man spoke in a voice that Peter most certainly recognized.

"Peter? Is that you?"

"Yup. Hi John. How's the Spartan project going for you?" Peter calmly replied, glancing at his company.

"So it is you. I see you still have your youth. Well, I don't have much time to talk now, but I need to ask you something." John began, motioning the three privates out.

"Hmm? Well shoot, friend." Peter said, looking up.

"How did you avoid the UNSC officers that took us all that time?" John asked, taking off his helmet.

"…I thought your databases would already have that. Oh well. I'll tell you." Peter started, glancing at the closing plasma gate.

**-Paragraph Break-**

Unlike what Peter had thought, the people inside the Command Room had already outfitted a wireless microphone in the cell, and they heard how dumb and arrogant they were when they were trying to kidnap the children. Peter had cleverly tricked them into thinking that he was already dead, and turned their eyes on John instead, a future hyper-lethal Spartan. In fact, according to his before test results, Peter would have been a Spartan that would have topped all others. He had speed, strength, intelligence, stealth and power, which was the perfect combination of a Spartan.

Captain De Sauc's anger was flowing out of every pore of his body, hearing how Peter evaded, wiped and tricked each one of their former soldiers, and he so wanted to strangle that boy's neck where he stood. But then, he heard something that interested him.

**-Paragraph Break-**

"…And so the Forerunners left me at the Halo array, before flash-freezing me and sending me out to space." Peter finished, before asking a question of his own. "So, what is the UNSC going to do to me? I saw the microphone. Rope should really learn how to use partial-camo properly. Dissect me? Kill me? Interrogate me? Well, since you're a Master Chief, John, you should know. But you should remember, your answer will choose your fate."

Peter's cold green eyes was nearly as sharp as a plasma sword through skin. John remembered the first time he met Peter. He nearly killed the teacher for saying that the Forerunner-Flood war was a myth. John felt a chill go down his spine. He took a few short breaths, and thought, _"Be honest. Peter is a walking lie-detector." _

Master Chief then stood up, put on his helmet, and left with a short phrase.

"You're going to be a Spartan."

And Peter's gleeful laughter could even be heard through the lead-lined walls.


	3. Cortana's exo-skeleton

AN: Halo is an awesome game. For all you people that don't play it, YOUR LOSS!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo.**

Imagine how angry Sauc was when Peter's augmentation was a complete success, without a single wound to spare. In fact, they didn't even need to increase the blood clot speed. Peter's was already too high. In fact, you could stab his heart and he would still kill you in a second.

Another is Peter's speed and power. The scientists had no explanation for them, even surpassing the best Forerunner fighter, not to mention better than all the past and present Spartans combined.

His engineering skills were marvelous. For his sample project, he created a time-space training capsule for helping any recruits to train themselves to the limit. He tried it himself to prove that it was safe. They ended up with the youngest Spartan ever.

But his intelligence was the best. He could memorize eight 900-page English books and recite them all in Latin, Spanish, Chinese, Esperanto, and even some languages not of Earth.

**-Paragraph Break-**

"What is that kid? We have Forerunner Spartans, and they're not even close! I guess he is special." Sauc slammed his hands on the table. Cortana's holographic being then appeared from the circular platform. "Relax, Captain. What's wrong with that? After all, you now have a possibility for another high-classed Hyper-Lethal Spartan for your ranks." She said. "Yes, but this kid evaded us for so long, yet he only showed his face when the Master Chief's identity was revealed. That's the problem. Why?" Sauc paused for her answer, but he knew that the AI didn't have one.

"_Time to change the topic. I don't want my entire day wasted on hating this kid."_ He thought. "Anyway, your request has been granted." Sauc said to Cortana. "The construction is underway. We just need a good technician that can understand human elemental compounds." But then, the door slid open, and a very familiar Spartan stepped in. It was Peter, in his specially modified MJOLNIR GEN2 armor.

"_Oh great. Speak of the devil." _Sauc thought. Peter's helmet was off, but it was now optional. The plasma shield now covers the skin, so the armor is just to limit fall shock and camouflage. His hair shaved to a crew cut, but since his original hair was nearly like that, the shavers were disappointed. They enjoyed seeing the children squirm.

"Captain Sauc, sir. I have come as she has requested." Sauc shot a glance at Cortana. She shrugged and said, "You did say you needed a technician." Sauc returned back to Peter. "Really, Spartan? You may have a perfect score for Engineering, but you're a new Spartan. I'm not going to assign a random Spartan an important job like this. Anyway, you have never seen a bionic exo-skeleton in your life." Sauc swore he heard Peter snort.

"Really, sir? I may have not worked on an exo-skeleton, but I have worked with a number of human and alien technologies in my free time, worked on overloaded phasers of Forerunner technology, taken apart and put together a full simulation of Human, Covenant and Forerunner vehicles of space and ground kind, and also-" Peter explained, before being cut off by the Captain. "I get it, Spartan. You can fix everything. The exoskeleton is over there." Sauc jerked a thumb to his back.

At the sound of the word 'there', Peter disappeared. Sauc then heard some drill and computer sounds before seeing Peter back in front of him. "Done, sir. It was easy, just needing to fix the appropriate bio-mass and the cranium matrix. I still don't get why you installed the concussion-free joints, though. The physical evaluation showed that…" Peter continued to blabber on and on about technical procedures before Sauc cut in.

"So it's working?" He asked impatiently. Peter, not affected by the rude break in, replied, "Yes sir. The exo-skeleton is ready for program transport. The form will do it by itself. So who's the AI that's going to be brought to our world, sir?" Sauc turned his back and detached Cortana's platform. He held it up at Peter.

"This AI, Spartan Peter-856."


	4. John's Squad

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

Master Chief was with his squad of Spartans, minus one. 'It's your squad, John.' Cortana had told him. 'You choose your own Spartans.' So he chose the best, and some more. They are;

**Leon-492, The Silent One**- Leon isn't his real name, since he's a Forerunner. He had to take it because Ker'guter wasn't short enough. Even though he had a low score on Strength, his speed, knowledge and his engineering skill is at peak level. His preferred weapon is the M45D Tactical Shotgun.

**James-794, The Tech-Savvy One- **The second best. Second highest score for Intelligence, Engineering and Strength, beaten by Peter. But his heart belongs to machines. He can handle Forerunner technology with ease, decode any kind of code, and can create any weapon all long he has a slab of metal. His preferred weapon is the M6 Sidearm Pistol.

**Crystal-043, The Dangerous One- **The fastest, even faster than Peter. Human, much to Peter's annoyance. The assassin of the group, can kill a person in a million different scarily specific ways. Good knowledge of the nervous system. Her preferred weapon is the Combat knife.

**Preo-939, The Accurate One-** Best eyesight, perfect aim. Sniper of the group. Adequate skills, but took the eyesight course due to the coercing of his teacher. Got 100+ points for speed and precision. Can shoot antennas off an ant 500 kilometers away with a M6 pistol. His preferred weapon is a modified SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle with a higher caliber bullet.

**Peter-856, The Rounded One**- The Ultimate Spartan. Made the Spartan Record for Strength, Engineering, Intelligence, Fighting Skills and Accuracy, but lost to Crystal in Speed. The only Spartan that escaped the first kidnappings and claims to have a secret part in defeating the Flood and Covenant. Beat the evading record from the search teams, both first and second wave, for more than twelve hours. Able to use any type of technology, even tech that he had never seen before. His preferred weapon is the Forerunner Z-180 Close Combat Rifle.

**John-117, The Experienced One- **The last of his generation, old friend of Specialized Forerunner Peter. Decorated War Hero, defeated the Prometheans, the Flood and the Covenant. Befriended Forerunners and has a mutual respect with the remnants of the Covenant. Now serving as an immortal mentor to the future Spartans. His new preferred weapon is the MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System.

**-Paragraph Break-**

When Peter came back, he was wearing a dazed look. James, not being used to voice protocol, spoke out. "Hey Pete. What did the boss ask you to do? And what's with the look?" "None of your business, James." Peter said, and passed a clip board to John. "Here, sir. Captain De Sauc asks for your presence in the command center immediately." John took it from Peter, and looked through the contents. Even under his helmet, everyone could see the bulging eyes from his head. "Spar while I'm gone." John promptly said, and sped off.

Left in the squad room, they did a double take on each other, and chose their targets. In just ten minutes, Crystal and Peter were at each other's throats and Preo, Leon and James trying to beat the stuffing out of each other.

AN: A short introduction to the group and you'll know who will be paired with each other for missions.


	5. The Crogerans

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

Three years.

Three years I had waited for this day.

Three years I had wasted my life to search for him.

Three years he was the final piece to my plan.

Three years I had waited for him to surface.

Three years he had eluded us.

Three years ago, he had defeated us, alone.

Three years I saw his friends prosper.

Three years I had detested him.

Three years I prepared myself.

He is going to pay.

**-Paragraph Break-**

General Peor'Tsae was standing at attention in front of the army, arms crossed, and face stony. It was nearly time to attack. Good thing too, since the soldiers seem to be getting restless. And restless soldiers would mean killing each other. At that thought, the screen behind him flickered to life.

Shipmaster Paumee'Tenasa appeared, and began to speak. "We have reached the orbit of the planet Earth! All soldiers prepare for battle! We will punish the one who had killed our brothers and sisters, ridiculed us and destroyed our home! To avenge them, we will do the same to his as he did to us! Long live the Crogera Empire!" He yelled.

The soldiers, hungry for battle, screamed in unison, tentacles flinging around out of their mouths. Peor'Tsae grinned at that, his crocodile teeth shining. He pulled out his matter pistol and shot three black beams into the air, which riled the soldiers even more. He holstered it back in his back armor, and turned back to the main computer.

He saw as the ship slowly floated towards the greenish-blue planet. He chuckled lightly. That genius Forerunner had killed his parents and only sister. All because they were in his way when he tried to stop his cryogenic freezing and HALO's activation. He had overslept that day, so he survived. Even though he had never seen the culprit in real life, he saw his picture and felt the aftershock.

He hated that man, and he would do anything to get his revenge.

**-Paragraph Break-**

Peter held Crystal up on her neck and tried to punch her in the torso, but she flipped and kicked him square in the face. Peter rebounded. Crystal then ran towards him and gave an uppercut. Peter caught her wrist, and in one swift motion, turned it back at her, and the momentum caused her to punch herself. Peter then gave a side kick to the waist, but she jumped up and aimed a chop to his neck. Instead, she got a face full of metal. Peter then stomped her back and she immediately rolled to the side and gave a kick to his face. Neither of them was even slowing down.

Even the rest stayed out of their way. They had fought each other, and since Forerunners were stronger and faster than humans, Leon had won. But Leon had to give to the rest. If Leon didn't use his full power, the Preo could have really killed his heart and James could have dislocated every joint of his body. But none of them could stand up to the stamina of Peter or Crystal. They two were indeed the best.

In fact, Peter had leaked to them during a portion of their free time that he, on the request of Crystal, to lower her scores to an average so she had inspiration to do better. But John had seen what he had done. Peter apparently accidentally turned on his mike when he did the deed. When John made him spill the beans, John recruited her on the spot.

Actually they were overall equal, but Preo, being the most observant one, could see that Peter wasn't using his full power. His face wasn't even focused on dodging. But there was no way they were going to risk their lives and tell Crystal that.

**-Paragraph Break-**

John saw as Cortana's holographic figure covered the entire exoskeleton. Her figure flickered rapidly, and Sauc thought of killing Peter when he saw the first points of smoke. But then he found out that it wasn't smoke at all. It was the connections from her head to the rest of the body. When her figure was completed, Sauc had no choice but to praise Peter in his head. Cortana came out perfectly. She was wearing the same attire Dr. Halsey had worn when she was on Reach.

They were left dazed by her immediate appearance, and as Cortana stood up, they saw that she was the exact same height as Master Chief, possibly due to the familiarity with him modified her program quite a bit. However, even the least familiar officers could mistake Cortana as Dr. Halsey. Just as Master Chief was about to say something, a strong rumbling went through the base.

At first, John mistook it for a common earthquake, but when one of the surrounding privates began to run around it circles, he became anxious. "What's going on, Captain?" Cortana asked, her voice completely undigitalized. Sauc started to run towards the main microphone, and only said a few words.

"They have finally come."

AN: Not one of my best ones, but I prefer the sparring scene better.


	6. Peter's Accuracy

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

Underneath the base, the quake was even worse. But Peter and Crystal continued sparring without a care. The rest, however, armed themselves immediately, but they were expecting some kind of drill. But when the announcement came, even Crystal slowed down a bit.

"ATTENTION TO ALL PERSONEL! FOREIGN HOSTILES ARE ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE! ALL PERSONEL ARM AND PROCEED TO THE LANDING PORT! REPEAT! PROCEED TO LANDING PORT!"

Peter's reaction was immediate. He flung Crystal to a side and ran towards the open catch. Scaling the ladder, the rest of his dazed teammates ate his dust. Confused, Master Chief appeared at the door, and when they saw the fourteen burns on his armor, they immediately followed him without a word.

That was when Preo found out that his gun was missing.

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**Peter's POV**_

I didn't expect them to track me here. I should have killed them all. But no, 'Leave some survivors' my conscience said. And looked what happened. Those tentacled freaks of nature came with their higher-than-Forerunner weaponry and decided to destroy the entire Earth. Just because of him. Usually, a normal person would feel guilty, but Peter isn't a normal person.

_**Normal POV**_

Peter was crawling up to the battle balcony, and saw an incoming Crogeran Battleship. Memories started to flood in his mind, before a black beam of matter whizzed past his head. He glanced at the metal slide, and knew that the human forces were grouping behind it. If they even caught one prisoner, his entire life will come back to haunt him.

So he had no choice but to kill every single one of the enemy forces.

He saw as the Battleship disappeared, and a huge number of tentacle-face Crogeran infantry, led by a Crogeran Leader of Staff. He quickly jumped onto the AA gun as the metal slide slowly slid open. He then aimed Preo's gun at the soldiers, and rapidly shot it. The soldiers fell as the ammo in the gun was cleverly replaced with Peter's own.

But when the forces streamed out, the only saw a dying Crogeran Leader at their doorstep. They immediately looked at the source of the gunshots, and saw Peter with Preo's gun. But without a single moment's hesitation, they took it by the arms and led it towards the interrogation room, not allowing Peter to shoot it again.

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**Three days later…**_

"Seriously? You have tried to assassinate that…that…alien for more than five times, and you don't seem to get it, do you? I mean, how the hell did you poison an immune alien with lead? What are you hiding, Peter?" Crystal, along with Leon, Preo and James crowded around Peter. "Yeah, and what's with stealing my gun and killing the recon team? That's not cool." Preo said, waving his gun's barrel at Peter.

Peter just put on his helmet and left the scene. Leaving the team to wonder why he wasn't demoted yet.


	7. Interrogation

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

The Leader was not that loyal to his men, but he had a lot of pride, so a gun barrel had to be brought to his head before he completed his explanation.

"-Gutha Lor Jof Ger Kor Nof Lem So" But his words meant nothing but gibberish. The translator had to be tuned to the voice calibrator, which Peter 'graciously' did.

"Don't give me that kind of crap." Head Interrogator Morth Lewis slammed his fist on the table. "The translator has been fitted. You're just saying what we hear without it. Now talk! What did you come here for?" The Leader lifted up his head, allowing Morth to get a full view of his face. He was unfazed at the monstrous build or glare of the alien. In fact, he didn't even know where its eyes were.

"Heh. All you humans are the same. Ask a few questions, squeeze technology, and then kill me. Simple and primitive." The alien's voice was both deep and intimidating. "But really, do you think a projectile weapon like that is going to kill me? But then again… Anyway, what do you want to know? I'm dead anyways." He ended, and Morth waved the Marine holding the gun away.

"Let's begin then." Morth crossed his fingers on the table. "Firstly, who the hell are you people?" "Simple. We are the High Crogeran Empire." The alien replied simply. "Okay. So you're a crazy alien species that want to kill us all for fun." Morth said directly, thinking of splattering this alien on the wall with his own bare hands. But instead of a smug look, a scoff came from the alien.

"Please. Do you think that we would waste our time to destroy this piece of dirt, when we could be rebuilding our doomed planet?" Morth found an opportunity. "Oh really? Then why did you come here? To suck up our resources? To clear out all sentient life here? To-" "-Or to look for a target." The Leader finished. "Target? What target?" Morth asked. "Ah, no matter. Let me finish up any doubts you might have in your primitive mind." The alien clutched its leg, which was still bleeding black-colored blood.

"Believe me, we are happy to spread the word of our power, so everything I am about to say will be true. Well, let me begin." Morth's piercing jade eyes awaited it.

"To understand it all, I must start from the beginning. Our home planet, Crogera, was situated near Installation 05. A Halo ring, if you may. We were the first line of defense against the Flood beneath the Monitors and the Sentinels. We held out well, being the only species immune to the affects. We had close ties with the Forerunners, which now are your brother species. But then, they decided to activate the rings. We were happy to oblige, and allowed it to be charged."

"But then, a single Forerunner, having nothing but his fists, fought through our homeworld. At first, he was at a stalemate with our army. But then, he broke through the lines and mutilated the entire armada. Literally. We couldn't even find their bodies." The Crogeran Leader let the hint of identity sink in.

"He then began to fight the inner militia. They were defeated in a Keon-pump." "What?" Morth piped up. "Oh, just a Crogeran version of your primitive 'heartbeat'. Never mind that. Anyway, the other Forerunners then sent their own army, and even a rogue Forerunner wouldn't kill his own kind. They gave chase, but the Forerunner was faster. But that was when everything went downhill. The Forerunner finally shouted to us, 'Halo doesn't kill the Flood, it kills their food! Including you, as Halo can't tell between non-edible and edible!'"

"We didn't know that, as the Flood had not been released for more than a few hundred years, before even we were born. The Forerunner army then started to betray us. We never interacted with the Monitors or Sentinels, so we never knew that. But then, in the middle of the crossfire, the rogue Forerunner did something that made up for his Forerunner mistake, and lost our trust."

The Leader sat back and rubbed the sides of his shark-like head.

"You see, Crogera has a self-destruct function, to put it in a primitive way, in the form of a protected computer terminal. The Forerunner easily bypassed the guards and codes, and set up a circuit breaker, making sure that he, and apparently enough survivors, to escape. The Forerunners escaped unscathed, due to their magnificent technology. But they didn't allow most of us on their ships. Many of us didn't make it."

He looked up at Morth.

"We had always blamed the Forerunner, who I heard was punished by being frozen out into space, and while we were so interested in that, Halo was activated. We managed to escape to eight million light years away, and arrived on the Planet Maf. We saw as the Forerunners were nearly destroyed, escaping through teleportation pistons. That was when we realized that the rogue Forerunner was still alive, and began tracking him to here."

The Leader ended.

Morth was momentarily shocked. A Forerunner nearly eradicating an entire species? That seemed impossible. Unless… it was a Spartan which the entire New Sword Base knew well. Only one way to make sure.

"And what was the name of the rogue Forerunner?" Morth asked.

The Leader thought for a minute, and replied with one word. A word that Morth couldn't hear due to a earthquake, but read it from the enigma that is the alien's tentacled shark-face.

"_Peter."_


	8. John: FATALITY

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

When Peter was taken away by the Marines for mass genocide, the only thing the squad could do was watch as their teammate was arrested. When he was brought to the interrogation room, Peter didn't even try to argue. He just accepted it cleanly and was taken off assignments for indefinite time. De Sauc knew that it would hit Peter hard to not kill armies of aliens that were just at his doorstep. But Peter wasn't such a crazed bloodlust killer as many thought. Throughout his imprisonment in the cell, he had meditated quietly throughout the time.

The war was still in its early stages, but the aliens sent wave-after-wave of soldiers' non-stop and the human armies were being pushed back considerably. At first, they thought of sending Peter over to the Crogerans, but when they let him loose on the main camp of Voi, they found him sleeping on a mountain of Crogeran corpses. Literally. They thought that if they let him off at the main Crogeran camp, there won't be an enemy to fight anymore. But when they tried that, the entire dropship was destroyed. Peter survived and fought his way through the enemies to reach back to New Sword Base. To come back without a scratch is quite an achievement.

They tried to execute him by firing squad, he caught all the bullets. Tried to hang him, lasted indefinitely. Cut his head off, grabbed the blade and the executioner got executed. They tried **everything**, still alive.

He was a dangerous person, very dangerous indeed.

**-Paragraph Break-**

The squad armed themselves as they proceeded to the launch pad. They had received their very first mission, which Peter would have enjoyed very much. They were to salvage their weapons from the fallen camp Beta, the camp that Peter was shipped from. The Crogerans had overrun it the moment they got a whiff of Peter's scent. The base was now under Crogeran control, and their guards are eighteen times tougher than Promethean and Covenant guards combined. Their duties were simple. Kill as many Crogerans covertly as you can, then storm it and kill them all.

Then the problem came. The armada seemed to be much too paranoid. They had literally beamed the entire base up one of their warships. The warship was parked where the crater was, making it an impenetrable fortress. Even worse, the guards were inside it with motion sensors guarding the outside.

John and his squad creeped across the barren ridge that surrounded the entire base, providing an eternal defense from anywhere except above. It was pretty much a thin line of dirt, so the group had trouble balancing on them. "Paranoid much?" James muttered into the mike, sliding down the dirt with pistol in hand. "Be quiet and do your work." John snapped, holding his Assault Rifle eye-level.

After a few minutes of silence, James was heard through the speakers. "Proceed with care." John then did a hand signal, causing the squad to creep through the gaps in the motion sensors that James had created. He had disabled one of the monitors.

But as they approached the fort, the doors at the sides suddenly opened. They each soon found themselves surrounded by Crogeran Mints.

Mints are the second-smallest Crogeran species seen by Humans, but they're not small at all. They were as big as a Covenant Jackal, just much more durable and deadly. They were outfitted with matter guns and dark matter grenades, which could corrupt a human cell to the point of fatality. But Mints were legally blind in human degrees, so they didn't prove to be a major force. What caused John to doubt his team was when he saw Crogeran Leaders and Crogeran Fleas in the mix.

Crogeran Leaders, much like Covenant Elites, were pretty much the leaders of a squadron of Mints and backed up by the Fleas. Fleas were dangerous Crogerans, smaller yet deadlier than a Covenant Hunter. They actually ride on Mints' strap sack, which is a greenish-colored claw to hold weapons, making up for their mouse-like stature. They were strong, for a small creature. They wielded fast shooting Dark Matter cannons, which was three times bigger than an average Mint. But the Mints were strong as well, eight of them able to hold down a Spartan.

So when they were surrounded, the squad didn't hesitate. The bullets struck each of the Crogerans' heads, killing them easily. The Mints fell like flies, the Leaders surviving further and the Fleas struggling with their dead vehicles. Crystal took a matter beam to her left shoulder, causing her to cringe in pain. Seeing an opportunity, the Fleas fired. The black beams sped through the air, heading directly at Crystal. Crystal didn't have time to dodge it and she accepted her doom, expecting the painful feeling of death.

But instead, she heard a cry of pain in front of her, seeing John's dark armor fall to the ground.

**-Paragraph Break-**

They eventually reached back to New Sword Base, dark matter fizzling on their armor. John had been fatally wounded in the battle, but Crystal was fast enough to break through enemy lines and recover the Human weaponry and a bit of Crogeran tech. John was immediately sent to the clinic, with Crystal taking charge. Peter was there when he saw John's body wheeling past him. John, sensing his friend's presence in the area, raised his hand in assurance.

Peter was eventually reinstated in the squad, Crystal enjoying ordering Peter around. With Peter's abilities, the success rate of their missions hit the peak. It was as if Peter knew exactly where their weaknesses are. And he did. But he needed Crystal's permission to implement his plan, which Crystal tried to rebut every time.

De Sauc thought that with Peter under control, the squad would do better. But an incident made him completely put his trust on him. It was a mission that he accompanied with his soldiers and Peter's squad. It was pretty much a suicide mission, but the Spartans could do anything. It started in the Gamma base...


	9. Leon's Sacrifice

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

Peter slowly awakened from his slumber, and noticed that the entire squad was still asleep. He quietly sneaked through the barracks of Gamma Base towards the lavatory. He proceeded inside and closed the small pod's door. The lavatory was clean, due to the dirt vaporizer that he had installed. Yes, he installed it when he had some free time. And with his good success rate, he had more than a few minutes. He quickly did his daily necessities of brushing and showering, and went back to his bunk. Leon was already awake.

"Hey." Leon greeted. Peter silently nodded his head. "Not much of a talker as you had been, huh?" Preo said, sitting straight up. Peter silently sat on his bunk, waiting for the James to join the conservation. "Dude… some of us are trying to sleep." James muttered in his sleep, annoyed at the rampant chatter. "Meh." James shifted in his sleep and groaned. "It's only three in the morning…" "And our curfew is at 5. Get up and beat the Spartan rush." Peter rebutted and clapped his hands together. Preo, Leon and James silently shifted out, stifling their yawns.

Peter and Crystal were left in the bunk.

"I know you're awake." Peter knowingly said. Crystal drowsily sat up. "Yeah… But I want to sleep…" "There's no sleep for Spartans, Crystal." Peter lied on his bunk and cracked open a book. Crystal looked straight at Peter. "Did the officials allow you to bring that?" Peter barely looked up. "Yes. Why?" Crystal sighed peacefully. "Never mind. They took away my laptop." Peter snorted. "I saw them playing with it." "Yeah. At least they let me keep my secondary laptop." "Heh."

Peter and Crystal looked at each other. They weren't friends, but they aren't enemies either. They were just comrades. Comrades in war. Peter was a silent, thoughtful and strong while Crystal was a tad bit talkative, instinctive and fast. They had known each other since they were in the academy, but they were just spur-of-the-moment friends. But they were there for each other when it was needed.

Peter was about to say something before the door burst open. Preo, James and Leon walked in. "Well, what have we here?" James asked with a smirk on his face. Peter immediately returned to his book while Crystal tore open her laptop.

**-Paragraph Break-**

In the hanger, Crystal walked towards them with a stack of files in hand. "Looks like we have a big one, boys. Here." Crystal handed a paper to each of them. "A Crogeran Warship. Great." Peter muttered. "Yes. A huge Pore." Crystal grimly assured.

Pores are huge ships that were bigger than UNSC Cargo planes and even Forerunner Trilobites. They could carry eight thousand Mints, three thousand Leaders, five thousand Chiefs and eight million Fleas together. But for every one the Humans destroyed, five more would come. It would be a hopeless battle if the Spartans weren't there. The Pore that John's squad was assigned to destroy was the main airship of the attack.

"Great. Just great." James muttered and armed himself with a Shotgun. "When are we moving out?" Peter asked, arming himself with a Sentinel Beam and a Forerunner Z-180 Close Combat Rifle. "Right now." Crystal simply said, taking suitcases of weapons and throwing them at Leon and Preo.

"Wait, De Sauc's following us? Aw, man."

**-Paragraph Break-**

They crept along the ship, brandishing their weapons in defense. The interior of the ship was just as bland as a Forerunner's Trilobite ship, nothing but blue metal throughout. Surveying the area, Crystal nodded at Leon and Preo. They set the suitcases on the ground, causing a vibration to spread throughout the ship. James gave a back-head slap to both of them. "This ship is one huge nervous clump." He hissed. "Don't be a klutz."

Leon and Preo shook their heads. The rest of the soldiers then drew their weapons from the suitcases. "Cache set, Ma'am." Crystal nodded. "Proceed with caution. James and Leon's group gets Engineering, Preo and Peter's gets the Bridge, Captain and I will handle our escape route by the cargo bay." All of them nodded. "Yes Ma'am." The squad split up and ran across the ship to their objectives.

_**James & Leon**_

They approached the huge wall of plugs and bulbs, which James immediately got to work on. Leon and the other soldiers guarded him with their weapons, blasting down more than a few Mints and Leaders. When he reloaded for the umpteenth time, Leon finally cracked. "Are you done?!" James responded with a buzz of sparks and a small explosion.

"I'll take that as a yes."

_**Preo & Peter**_

The battle didn't even take a full minute. Preo and the other soldiers didn't even get the chance to shoot any Crogerans, Peter murdering every single one of them bare-handed. Hands stained with black and blue blood, Peter approached the open-mouthed Preo and the soldiers and gave them a sequenced head-slap. "Time to go help Crystal, supporters."

Along the way, Preo and Peter had a small conservation that could have affected the events to come. "So…why were you arrested?" Peter didn't even look at him. "Past matters. Nothing wrong with that." Preo snorted as he shot a Mint and a Flea in the head. "That wasn't what Crystal said." Peter shot a sharp glance at Preo. "What did she say?"

He shot a Leader behind him with a M6 Pistol without even looking backwards.

"She said you had killed an entire civilization when you were young."

Peter flinched as he got a blast to the back. He quickly murdered the Mint.

"That's…preposterous."

Preo gave a shot to a Flea that was two hundred meters away.

"Yeah. Maybe. But she said she saw you do it. You're the same age as her… I mean, before you went in that chamber you made."

Peter stomped a Flea to the ground.

"Can't be."

"But-."

"CAN'T. BE."

"Okay okay. Yeesh."

**-Paragraph Break-**

Reaching the cargo bay, the expected to see Crystal and De Sauc standing over a mountain of bodies, but instead found something completely different. Crystal, James, Leon, De Sauc and the remainder of the soldiers were tied up, placed right beside a ticking time-matter bomb. They were immediately flanked by Leaders, Mints, Fleas, Chiefs, Worms (a kind of Crogeran animal that's like a slug, just faster and secretes poison. Used like watchdogs.) And even one huge Crogeran General, dwarfing every single sentient being around.

"What the-? Why would they destroy their own ship?" Peter answered this soldier's question by muttering, "That's because Crogerans are immune to time distortion affects." He charged forward, instantly killing more than fifteen soldiers in the area. "Well? Don't just stand there. FIGHT!" Peter yelled, blasting the General in the head with the Sentinel Beam.

A flurry of blasts went through the air, soldiers and Crogerans falling like flies. But the small squad of soldiers weren't enough to last against the huge wave of forces. Peter then blasted through the lines to the bomb's location. Throwing down a force-field, he covered the hostages in the bluish light. Undoing the chains, he pulled off the gag from Crystal's mouth, which started a flurry of explanation sourcing from Crystal's mouth.

"They caught us when we entered the cargo bay. They bragged all about their plan, in English, to add insult to injury. They were going to just torture us and then let us go, but then James and Leon came in. They started to kill all in sight, but they stopped when they saw the bomb. James **just** had to try and deactivate the bomb. They were caught and they connected the bomb to Leon. We didn't stand a chance. You need to get out of here and report this to HQ. There is-."

She was cut off by Peter.

"I know. They have more than fifty thousand armadas in total, and this was just one. There's no way I'm going to leave you here and die while I report to HQ."

"But-."

"No buts. You saved my life once. Time to return the favor."

Throwing the chains to a side, he handed Crystal his Combat Rifle. That was when he saw that the bomb was attached to Leon's waist. "Leon! Get that thing away from you!" Leon shook his head calmly and pointed to the bomb's attachment. The charge was linked to Leon's skin, binding the two for good. Crystal whipped his head to Preo. "Can you disable it?" Preo shook his head. "I tried, ma'am. The only thing I could do was change the charge to a matter bomb. It would wipe out this armada in seconds, but there's no hope for Leon now." De Sauc rammed the butt of his Shotgun in a Mint's torso. "Can we get off this damn hellhole of a ship first?" Crystal spoke up. "We can't just leave him!"

Peter placed a hand on her shoulder. "In war, sacrifices are supposed to be made. He will be hailed as a hero." Crystal looked down at her feet and nodded. She then charged into the field, together with De Sauc's men. Leon approached Peter. Sticking a hand out, Peter glanced at the ticking bomb. Leon smirked slightly and shook his superior's hand.

"It's been an honor, to meet you."

_**Eight minutes later…**_

They watched from a far as a bright orb surrounded the ship. It was like a star, living its last moments. Suddenly, the orb spread out as wisps of light, a huge explosion that shook the New Sword Base's foundations. Gamma Base was completely eradicated in the blast, but no one was harmed. They evacuated the area before the bomb exploded. All the Crogeran ships were lost in the fiery blast, but they only recognized one soldier that was caught in the doomed Armageddon. Having no time for grievances, they posted his picture on the wall, together with a replica of Leon's modified Tactical Shotgun at the side.

Saluting their fallen comrade, the squad proceeded to the launch pad, having new reasons to fight for.


	10. Covenant WHAT?

AN: Okay, I was just playing HALO 3: ODST and I was annoyed at how hard Legendary was. Usually two rockets to the back would at least take out a Hunter.

When they returned to New Sword Base, I couldn't tell you how angry De Sauc was. Spartans were invaluable in the war, since John's squad was one of the few that didn't return to Earth for protection. They thought that by leaving Peter in Voi, the problem would solve it by itself. Then New Mombasa was attacked, far away from Peter's location. The Crogerans really wanted a war, whether they get Peter or not.

Crystal was stripped of the position of team leader and it was given to Peter, him being the only one who managed to obtain an unused Crogeran weapon. It wasn't easy, since it'll self-destruct if another species different of the first user uses it. The weapon was just a simple handgun, but it was enough to manufacture a special addition to the armor.

After the announcement, Peter was then promoted to Petty Officer First Class and the rest were promoted by one rank, except for Crystal. But they were all (except Peter) the same rank, so it didn't matter. They were pulled off missions until John came back, since the squad had lost all trust from the UNSC. By then, Peter and the squad had a battle record of eighteen battles in the war, but for every single soldier they kill, five more take its place.

Then, the missions started up again. They were assigned to hijack nearby Veins (Smaller ships that are for Recon, unlike Pores that have FTL capability.) and take back a few cases of weaponry. Guess how successful they were? The army managed to manufacture weapons that were made of the same ammo.

Now, Peter was the champion of the Human race, the face of the war. If he dies, he would become the martyr of the war. But it was evident that Peter was the only reason they could win, and if he dies, the Human race is finished. The Crogerans were committing mass genocide, not only just looking for Peter. In the wake of the war, most of the Humans had blamed Peter for it, until they realized that the Crogerans were going to attack them even if Peter had never came to Earth. Crogerans are merciless and sadistic, as Peter had explained with a Forerunner elder, sometimes using their invincible armada to destroy a universe for fun.

Then, De Sauc got a direct transmission from Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood.

"Spartan Petty Officer Peter-856 will be sent to the Covenant Homeworld to enlist their ranks in battle."

You could hear his jaw drop throughout the whole base.

"But sir, why must we ask those damn bastards to help us? FYI, they had tried to murder us."

Terrence massaged his temples.

"You know damn why. We're getting slaughtered here, even with the special armor. Who knows if there are more of those damn Crogeran species are there? And besides, Peter has the highest success rate out of all the Spartans, regardless of his faults."

De Sauc brought a fist to his mouth.

"Very well, sir."

"And I would like this to be on a need-to-know basis, understand?"

"Yes sir."

**-Paragraph Break-**

"Wait, a diplomatic mission? With the Covenant?" Peter tore off his helmet. "Yes, old friend. The Fleet Admiral ordered it. You ship out tomorrow. Good luck." John promptly left the area, leaving the squad to pity the supposedly doomed Spartan. "Dude… that's gonna be hard. Hope you survive." James patted his back and proceeded to one of the war labs, where he left his Assault Rifle to be modified.

Preo approached him, silently drew out his sniper rifle and shot three shots in the air. Preo then holstered it back on his back and muttered as he left the room, "That'll what I'm going to do for your funeral. Do it for Leon."

Peter then noticed that Crystal wasn't in the area. As he searched for her, he noticed her Combat Knife, slightly bloodied, in the corner.

**-Paragraph Break-**

Cortana met John on the bridge. Noticing his dazed state, Cortana poked him in the shoulder and brought him back to reality. "Are you okay?" John let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just that-" Cortana patted his shoulder. "I know. Peter's your only friend that knows you personally. But hey, life's like that." John wiped his face with his hand. "Yeah, but sometimes life can be a hellish shithole."

Cortana smiled. "How long have I had known you, John?" He shrugged. "I don't know. Thirty, forty years?" Cortana smiled again. "Yup. He's not your only friend, you know." A smile tugged at the side of his mouth and Cortana laughed slightly.

They suddenly felt a huge vibration go through the base, knocking both of them off their feet.


	11. Raid

AN: Aw, man. 3 a.m. in the morning.

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

_**Hallway 8-B, ten minutes before raid **_

Peter eventually found Crystal in the metal hallway, applying anti-septic ointment on a cut wound on her hand. He crouched down to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what happened?" Crystal flinched. "Huh? Oh. Hi Peter. Nothing, I just cut myself while I was sharpening my knife." Peter looked at her weirdly, and reached for her arm. "Hey!" He pulled the bloody hand out, the gloves stained with the dak crimson red liquid. The wound was a simple notch above the wrist that was so roughly cut, it was obvious that it was caused by a Combat Knife.

Plucking a bandage from the nearby med-kit, he wrapped her hand around and let go. She stared at her hand and looked back at him. Peter smiled. "Doesn't hurt now, does it?" Crystal twisted her hand. "What did you do to it? Cut off blood circulation or something?" Peter lightly shook his head. "It's a simple technique that I learned when I was repeatedly shot into space. When you regularly get punctured lungs, you'll learn something." Crystal snorted. "Teach it to me sometime."

She sat back and sighed, putting her glove back on. Peter took his place beside her. "So…I heard that you're going to the Covenant to ask them to help us." Peter's shoulders' slumped and he nodded. "Yeah, but I've been on worse missions." Crystal's head turned in question. "Really? Like what?" Peter smiled sadly. "You know…most things are better left unsaid." Crystal smirked and elbowed his armor. "Come on, tell me!"

Peter sighed. "Well, lets just say it involves a gravity hammer, thirty mecenaries and eight thousand pounds of pure Leptrocite." Crystal tilted her head. "Leptro-what?" "Leptrocite. It's like gunpowder, just more explosive by a few million times. One pound could destroy a planet." Crystal's eyes widened in shock. Peter nodded. "Yeah. I handled it before. I still got the scar to prove it. See?" He took off his right glove and showed her the back of his hand. "Wow. That's one big scar." Crystal remarked as Peter put on his glove. "Yeah. Rocket Launcher plus one pinch of Leptrocite equals an explosion similar to a nuclear blast. Shoot it far enough, you get this scar." "Considering what's happening right now, I'll call it Thursday."

They chuckled slightly. Peter then noticed a lock of hair, pressed down and hung at the side of Crystal's head. "Hmm? What's this?" He reached and pulled the strand. "Hey! That hurts!" Crystal smacked Peter's hand away. Peter tilted his head and noticed that there was a dark border in the middle of her head. "Hmm…" He dug his index finger into the gap. "H-Hey!" He jerked it up, causing the cap to fall off. That was when Peter got a face-full of red hair.

"Well, that's interesting." Peter remarked as he watched Crystal fuss, before he got slapped. "You IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" She yelled, giving him another slap. As Peter nursed his face, he asked, "Hey, relax. What's wrong?" Crystal pulled back her frizzled hair, revealing a very annoyed face. "If anyone knows that I didn't get my hair cut, they're going to cut it off, or something worse!" Peter held up his hands in defense. "Hey, take it easy! Like anyone's gonna find out. Besides, you look prettier with your hair." Crystal shot him a look. "Okay, bad time for a compliment." Crystal rolled her eyes as she did her hair and put on the crew-cut wig. "No shit, Sherlock."

As they stood up, they were knocked off their feet by a huge shockwave. It propelled them across the hall, before prematurely stopping. As they found their balance, Peter was about to say something before a beam of dark matter whizzed past his head.

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**Main Hallway, five minutes into raid**_

The alarm rang through the base as James and Preo put on their helmets. "ATTENTION ALL PERSONEL; WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! ALL SPARTANS REPORT TO ATTACK SITE: THE COURTYARD! REPEAT…" The announcement blared over the speakers. "Man, does that guy ever shut up?" James remarked as he grabbed a shotgun from the ground. "Shut the hell up and go. I'm going up high to take out the stragglers." Preo grabbed his sniper rifle and holstered it on his back, jumping up a ladder.

James went through hall 18-C and met his first Mint. "What the hell? I thought they said that it was in the Courtyard?" He remarked as he killed the Mint. Another one was carrying a Flea, charging towards him. "Well, can't do anything about it now." He remarked as he stabbed it and a nearby Leader.

**(Insert fifteen minutes of cries of pain and gunshots here)**

When all the enemies were dead, the UNSC soldiers arrived. "Hey! Where's the fight?" James lifted his visor and spat out a tooth. "Where do you think? You snooze, you lose. Come on! They flanked us already! Tell every one to send squads down all the hallways; thirteen people per group! GO GO GO!"

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**AA Gun, ten minutes into raid**_

Preo wasn't exactly having the time of his life either. He had, on record, eighteen brushes with death today. Fifteen were because of Crystal's anger issues, two was because Peter saw him look at Crystal oddly and one because he was in a fist fight with a Crogeran…something. Maybe Peter had a name for this. Anyway, he named it a Spine. It looked so closely to a Covenant Hunter until he thought about trying to stab it in the back.

"There!" He thrust his hand through the monster's skull. "And stay down!" He sat back with relief, his sniper rifle empty. He looked over the battlefield, bodies both Human and Crogeran strewn about. "Wow. Peter had better get the Covenant here soon, or we're gonna get slaughtered. Heh." Preo then dropped unconscious, unbeknowest to the three Mints looking over him.

**-Paragraph Break-**

The attack didn't even last fifteen minutes. The moment Preo's communication went down, the Crogerans retreated. What ticked Peter off was that he wasn't able to shoot five of those smug bastards in their faces. He was only able to kill four Mints and Fleas. But when they were assembled in the Bridge, they noticed that Preo wasn't present. Although Captain De Sauc bothered to send out a search team, the inevitable fear was mutal.

Preo had been taken as a Prisoner of War, and who knows what the Crogerans would do to him.

AN: Hehehe… I got so many tortures in store for Preo. If you had read one of my other stories (Not that bloody, actually.), I'm well-versed in the writing of death. Not exactly proud of it, though. I'm just not squemish of torture scenes.


	12. Liftoff

**Disclaimer: I don't own HALO.**

"Spartan Peter-856, you will be setting off for the Covenant Sangheili Homeworld Sanghelios immediately." De Sauc ordered as a medic helped him with his wounds. Peter looked at him curiously and asked, "I thought I was supposed to ship off tomorrow." De Sauc waved the medic away. "Well, your trip has moved up. According to readings, we're at our lowest point right now. It'll take a helluva amount of dough to spend on a slip-space ship, so we'll better ship you out as soon as possible, You have fifteen minutes." Peter put on his helmet and promptly left.

"Yes sir."

**-Paragraph Break-**

_**Quarters**_

Peter clamped the weapon suitcase close as Crystal walked in. "Hey." She greeted. "Hey." He returned, not even glancing at her. She rubbed the back of her neck. "So… I heard that your little 'excursion' had been moved up to today." Peter didn't respond. "Anyway, what're you gonna do there? Speak to the leader or something?" Still no response. "Oh yeah, need-to-know, right? Well, I'll leave you to your stuff." As she started to leave, she heard the clang of metal.

"It should have been me."

Crystal turned and blinked in confusion. "That was what which was bothering you? Peter, Preo would have been killed anyway. Him being tortured to death is just giving them a small advantage." Peter bit his lip and turned round. "Crystal, do you know what Crogerans do to prisoners?" Crystal shrugged. "I don't know, like us, maybe? Torture them then kill them?" Peter grimly shook his head. "You have no idea. They're bloodless sadistic assholes without a single regard for the sanctity of life. What they call our kind of torture? They call it a bicycle ride in the park. What you call their torture? Well, I call it hell."

Crystal felt a shudder go down her spine. "What do they do?" Peter rubbed his neck. "You really want to know?" Crystal nodded. "Firstly, they cut off four fingers. As for females, their toes." Crystal shrugged. "Hey, it isn't so bad." Peter ignored her and took a deep breath. "They then place a tape over the poor creature's mouth and cut off one of his ears, gouge one of his eyes out and make a scar on his forehead; as a taunt." Crystal swallowed.

"Wait, I'm not finished. They then cut off one leg, one arm and hit the victim with it. They then stab him with a knife, dig out his intestines, feed it to him, make him vomit it out again with a poison, put it back into him and stitch it up. But that's just the easy part. They then hit the place where they stitched it up, all the time him being fit with a spike collar that makes him survive. But when you think that the poor sap can't take much more of it, they then make him- Hey, you okay?"

Peter glanced at Crystal, who was vomiting in the corner. "I get it. Preo's gonna go through hell." Peter turned and hit the metal post. "And it's my fault. I didn't give myself over to them, I didn't kill them all, and I let myself be found." Crystal put a hand on his shoulder while wiping her mouth. "Hey, they were going to kill us anyway. Your presence just alerted and gave us the advantage. Don't be so hard on yourself." Peter reached and touched her hand, before an announcement came over the speaker.

"SPARTAN PETTY OFFICER PETER-856 PROCEED TO LAUNCH BAY N4 IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT…"

Peter looked at Crystal sadly and hefted his weapon case. "Looks like it's time." Crystal sighed. "Yeah. Be careful out there; they're still mad at us for killing so many of them." Peter extended a hand and Crystal accepted it. "Make sure no one dies while I'm gone, alright? Don't want anyone to mourn when I return." Crystal nodded. "I promise. Make it home safe, we'll be waiting." Peter held up two fingers and crossed the area above his heart.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

**-Paragraph Break-**

Peter walked into the Longsword _Nitrous-78_, taking a last glance at the UNSC base. He spotted John, James and Crystal in the small crowd of Spartans, saluting him. Peter smiled and entered the empty ship, speeding towards the main bridge. He took his place at the wheel and heard the countdown start.

_10, 9, 8, Opening Launch Hatch_

He calculated the distance and speed of the trip, eventually ending with the measurement of 6 hours.

_7, 6, 5, Releasing Clamps_

He tucked the weapon case underneath the seat.

_4, 3, 2, Starting Engine_

He took one last look at his friends, before noticing that Crystal was-

_1, 0, Liftoff!_

Well, he can't see. He's already in the sky.

Peter grasped the handle for the cannons for the ship, ready to burst some Pores and Veins and battle his way to his apparent doom.

AN: Please review. The next few chapters will need some inspiration.


End file.
